Nicolas Batum Agrees to 5-Year Contract with Hornets

Unrestricted free agent Nicolas Batum has secured a deal to return to the Charlotte Hornets, despite interest from other teams.

Continue for updates.

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Batum Agrees to Hornets Contract

Friday, July 1

"Batum has reached agreement with Charlotte on a five-year, $120 million deal," per Shams Charania of The Vertical, citing league sources.

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Latest on Batum's Meetings

Thursday, June 30

Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (via Tim MacMahon of ESPN) reported that Batum will have face-to-face meetings with the Hornets and the Dallas Mavericks and will hold phone meetings with the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Wizards.

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Batum Linked to Wizards

Wednesday, June 29

ESPN's Marc Stein, citing sources, reported that the Washington Wizards have Batum as one of their top targets.

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Batum on Lakers' Radar

Tuesday, June 28

Batum is on the Los Angeles Lakers' "wish list," according to ESPN's Chris Broussard. 

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Warriors' Interest in Batum Hinges on Durant

Friday, June 24

Sources told Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group that the Golden State Warriors are considering Batum if they don't get Kevin Durant. The acquisition would serve to replace Harrison Barnes, who is a restricted free agent this summer. 

Warriors general manager Bob Myers told the media the team "will be very aggressive" in pursuing Durant, per Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News (h/t Houston Chronicle). If the Warriors come up empty on the Durant pursuit and acquire Batum instead for the 2016-17 season, it could be viewed as a subpar consolation prize. 

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Batum's Emergence Has Made Him Hot Commodity 

Drafted No. 25 overall out of France in 2008, Batum developed into a solid secondary scoring option with the Portland Trail Blazers, averaging 13 or more points per game from 2011 to 2014. But after a down 2014-15 season in which he put up 9.4 points per game, the Blazers dealt him to the Hornets for Gerald Henderson and Noah Vonleh. 

In Charlotte, he experienced a resurgence, putting up a career-high 14.9 points per game, second on the team behind only Kemba Walker. 

At 6'8", Batum was able to stretch the Hornets offense and was capable of hitting some big-time shots, as shown below:

Batum helped the Hornets reach the playoffs, though they lost in the first round to the Miami Heat in seven games. He spoke with Matt Rochinski of the team's official website about his season:

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(Head Coach Steve) Cliff(ord) and my teammates gave me a chance to play my game like I want to. To be a new guy on a new team with Kemba (Walker) and Big Al (Jefferson), who had been the main targets on offense – to let me do what I did this year, that shows who they are. We’re all about winning. I’m really grateful for that and thankful for that. I tried my best to help this team reach their goals. We missed one, because obviously we wanted to go further in the playoffs, but overall it was pretty good.

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He also averaged more minutes (35.0 to 30.9) and points per game (14.9 to 11.7) than Harrison Barnes, but the Warriors small forward had a better field-goal percentage overall (46.6 percent to 42.6 percent) and from three-point range (38.3 percent to 34.8 percent). 

Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.